As can be seen from the above table, from the age of 45 onwards you are able to create a big source of additional income by just planning and investing Rs10,000 per month in equity SIP today. That is how simple it is to create a regular stream income by planning early. Of course, we do not know which stocks will give high dividend yields at that point in time so we have considered the quality high dividend stocks at this point in time. Above all, this approach is also tax efficient as you only have to pay 10% tax on dividends above Rs.1 million in a fiscal year.

Portfolio income can come from multiple sources – interest/bond coupons, stock dividends, financial strategies including derivatives and capital growth. Each offers some cash flow and some also offer potential capital gain with some risk from liquidity and volatile prices. In this low-yield environment, many investors rely too heavily on cash flows and to pursue this are venturing further into riskier areas than they’d normally consider.